Homeward Bound III: Back to the Wilderness
by OptimusPrime2017
Summary: A year after the events of San Francisco, our favorite animal trio and Delilah go to South America for some fun...that is until Chance gets them lost again. Stuck in Brazil, by the Amazon River. Now what? Will they ever see the Seavers again? Maybe they really are dumb and dumber!
1. Chapter 1

Homeward Bound III: Back to the Wilderness

 _ **Life could never be more perfect. Finally back home with Jamie, Shadow, Sassy, and Delilah. Two adventures-One over the mountains and the other in San Francisco-are enough for me. But, staying here at home gets real boring sometimes…well, I guess you could say a little more than sometimes. But at least I got Delilah. Just another day.**_

A white American Bulldog with brown spots ran around dragging a big stick. That's me, Chance. I glanced around to see Delilah sitting over in the shade watching me closely. I felt the same happiness inside me I felt when "Daddy" (Jamie's dad said she could stay). I tossed the stick up into the air and watched it thud down.

"This is boring," I said for probably what was the tenth or maybe twentieth time now. I padded over to Delilah and lay down next to her.

"Yeah, but at least Jamie will be back soon," She replied with a chuckle. "You did say that you wanted to play ball with him."

"And I still do!" I barked playfully leaping to my feet. "Hey Shadow!" I called to the old Golden Retriever who sat in another spot of shade not far away.

"What, Chance?" He asked, the usual edge of annoyance to his voice.

"Aren't you gonna go play ball or something with Peter?" I questioned curiously.

"He seems to be busy." Shadow answered, the annoyed tone gone from his voice.

"Oh." I muttered.

"Hey, Chance!" Came the familiar cheerful voice of Jamie. I pricked my ears and turned my head towards him as he ran into the yard, throwing his baseball glove to the ground.

"Finally," I barked. Of course Jamie and the other humans can't understand us, or Sassy, for some reason.

I trotted over to him, my tail wagging with excitement. Jamie grabbed a Frisbee and tossed it. I raced after it, picking up speed as I went. Then I leaped and managed to catch it in midair.

Suddenly, Jamie's dad, Bob Seaver, came out the back door. I had a feeling he didn't come just to watch. _Uh oh,_ he thought, _what'd I do this time?_

"Hey, Jamie!" He called. "Come here for a minute."

"Okay," Jamie simply replied as he walked over, followed by me. I noticed Delilah and Shadow get up and glance curiously over our way. Then they ran over here too.

"This can't be good." Shadow muttered under his breath.

"I was thinking the same exact thing," Delilah piped up.

"Quiet, I wanna hear!" I scolded.

Bob ignored the barking dogs. "We're going on a trip." He simply stated.

"Oh no. Where this time?" Jamie retorted.

"We're going to South America!" He cheered.

"But, they don't even speak English, Dad." Snapped Jamie.

"Some of them do. Besides, Laura and I know Spanish." He said, puzzled why Jamie didn't want to go.

"Oh. Uh, but, when are we going?" Jamie seemed more curious now. "Can we take Chance, Delilah, Shadow, and Sassy too?"

"We're going tomorrow. Of course we can take them." Bob was turning back towards the house. "Come on, we gotta go pack."

"Okay!" Was all Jamie could think of to say. They walked inside, leaving the three dogs standing there…alone.

"What's going on? I thought we were gonna play?" I said sadly.

Later, when it was dark, Delilah and I went inside to our beds and Shadow went up to sleep with Peter. I heard Sassy meow something as she followed Hope to her room.

"Slow down!" Sassy protested, knowing Hope didn't understand.

I closed my eyes and let sleep overcome me.

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I was surprised to see Bob carrying things out of the house with the help of the rest of the family. _Wait, what's going on here? This isn't right._ I thought to myself.

"Come on, Chance" said Shadow when Peter urged him to follow. "You too, Delilah."

I sighed, but reluctantly followed them. We went out the front door and onto the driveway, where the car was waiting. It's engine was fired up and ready to go somewhere…but where? I exchanged glances with Delilah. Sassy was already in the car, waiting.

"Come on!" Shadow barked louder, as he jumped into the open back of the car. Heaving a sigh, I leaped up after him, followed by Delilah again.

"Okay, okay." I muttered. The car closed in my face, making me jump backwards with a muffled yelp. I heard Delilah laugh. "Not funny". And away we drove.

I opened my eyes…again. I must've fallen asleep from boredom. Not surprising really. I glanced out the back window.

"Whoa," I let the gasp escape my mouth. "Where are we?"

"Who knows," Said the typical meow of the cat. Sassy glared at him.

"Hey, what'd I do to you?" I said, slightly playful.

"Oh, nothing." Sassy replied.

"Okay then." I muttered.

"Quit bickering!" Shadow chided.

"Sorry." I growled. Then I whispered the next words to myself. "Old timer". After a few hours of driving, we finally stopped. We were at an airport. _Oh no._ I remembered what happened last time.

As soon as we got out of the car we went in and got put in those "kennels". Then we were put on some kind of ride , which took us to the plane. A man loaded us into it, along with some other animals. Then, we took off. Into the sky. It felt sickening. I actually threw up in my kennel. This is gonna be a long ride.

When we finally landed, we were unloaded, but by a different man. He didn't even speak English! He took us on another ride inside the building and let us out of the kennels.

"Finally!" I barked. "Wait a second, where are we anyway?"

"You think I got a clue?" Retorted Shadow.

"Of course not." I replied calmly.

We walked out (with the family) and went to a borrowed car Bob was renting. Shadow, Delilah, and I hopped into the back while Sassy got to sit with Hope again. We drove up to a building called a hotel and went inside. After talking to a strange non-English lady, we went up into a room. It was nearly bedtime already, though. In a couple of hours, everyone, even me, were asleep.

"Wake up!" Sassy shouted into his ear.

I yelped and jumped back, my eyes wide open. "Who said you were my alarm clock?" I barked jokingly. I yawned and then stretched. "Can I go out for a run yet?" I muttered sarcastically. I sniffed the air. _Kibble!_

I raced into the kitchen and started gobbling down the food, grateful it was there. I nearly choked on it a few times because of how fast I was eating. Once we were all done eating, it was back to the car.

"Ugh," I scowled. "This'll be fun." I hopped in for the third time in two days. We took off. We were at our destination in, thankfully, less than an hour. It was a nice, green rainforest. A river ran through it. I kept hearing the word "Amazon" from them. _Brazil?!_ Yep, we were in Brazil. I stared around in awe. "Sweet!" I cheered. I raced out through the trees followed by Delilah, Shadow, and Sassy.

"Woo hoo!" I barked as loud as I possibly could. I forgot that we even had to go back. I forgot about the humans and the annoying car. I forgot where I was leading us. I got us lost, but none of us noticed it yet.

When I decided to turn around, I couldn't remember where we came from. "Uh guys, which way did we come from?"

"Are we lost, again?!" Sassy almost screamed it at him.

"Uh, maybe." I said, feeling the guilt heavily.

"Oh no." Delilah fought back panic.

Shadow pawed the ground in obvious anger at me. "Chance!"

"W-We're lost!" I yelped it as loud as I could, panicking.


	2. Chapter 2

The unsuspecting Seavers didn't know the animals were missing. They didn't know they were lost. They didn't even know they ran off for a bit of fun. It would be a while before they noticed.

"Now what do we do?" Snarled Sassy angrily.

"Don't look at me." Said Shadow, "Chance got us into this mess."

I lowered my head, guiltily. "How about we go that way?" I suggested, pointing behind me with my tail.

"What if we get more lost?" Asked Delilah.

"We won't." I chuckled. "There's no such thing as more lost." _What if there is? What if I do get us more lost?_ Was all I could think. I shook the doubts away. "What're ya'll waiting for? The sun to explode?" I barked sarcastically. "Come on!"

I turned in the direction I had pointed and trotted off. Footsteps told me the others were doing the same. We walked and walked…and walked besides the edge of the Amazon River. Still haven't found the family. Did they know that the pets were lost yet? Did they even care? The words seemed to float in the air, silently, but there.

Suddenly there was a low, threatening growl. Not a dog or a cat's growl, but still an animal growl. "Oh no." I muttered. "Dog vs. big cat round two."

Sure enough, the animal growling was a big, black cat. A panther. I shrank back a few inches. It advanced a few steps forward, still growling.

"Ruuuuun!" I yelped, turning and racing off.

"Ugh." Shadow sighed as they ran.

"What's all this about round two?" Asked Sassy.

"Uh, long story, Sassy." Shadow answered.

"Let's just get away from it!" Delilah barked.

"Let's make it fall into the river!" I called, remembering what Shadow and I did to that mountain lion. "Then we can escape it." I was panting from the exhaustion of running already. On the bright side there were no leg cramps yet. Jinxed it…

"Oooh ow, front leg cramp!" I exclaimed in pain.

"Keep running, Chance!" Hollered Shadow.

"I am!" I shouted back in protest. A pain split through my back leg. "Back leg cramp!"

"Hold on, Chance!" Shouted Delilah.

I braced myself. We were nearing the river. _Sassy won't like this. Time to go swimming._ I thought. I tensed my muscles. _How am I supposed to jump with cramps?!_

"We got to jump it or go in the river!" I growled through pain.

"What?!" Sassy objected.

"Would you rather get eaten?" Shadow panted.

"No, but I don't feel like swimming either."

"Just do it!" I shouted.

When my paws reached the river bank, I didn't slow down, but sped up. I leaped long and hard. I was three quarters of the way over the river when I landed in it. It was surprisingly cold. I yelped in surprise. Shadow landed right behind me and Delilah right on the other side. Sassy, well, she jumped on top of Shadow's back! I laughed long and hard as Shadow let out a bark of shock.

"Perfect landing." Sassy praised herself. "Thanks for being right here, Shadow."

"Yeah, no problem." Muttered the old golden retriever.

We waded to the other side where Delilah waited patiently. Thankfully, the panther had turned back in defeat. It didn't feel like getting wet today, either. I heaved a sigh of relief. "Phew."

"No kidding." Said Delilah. She must've been scared, but then weren't they all? _Obviously._ The thought was clear in my head. We decided to take a break and rest after all of that running. Sassy caught us some fish in the river, and, boy, was I thankful for it!

We ate gratefully. At least we had followed the river. It saved our lives and gave us lunch. _Yum!_ I yawned. I didn't feel like getting up and traveling anymore, but Shadow insisted that we did. I gave in, reluctantly. As soon as I was on my feet, I was full of energy again. I took a quick drink from the river before we started.

By dark, we were all very tired. As soon as we found a place to spend the night, I collapsed, closing my eyes. It actually wasn't too hard to fall asleep. I was so tired, I just let sleep full me in.

The next morning, I opened my eyes to see I was the only one awake. _Wow._ It's incredible. I got to my feet. After yawning and some stretching, I got a drink of water and thought about trying to fish, by myself. I remembered the lobster that found my lip last time, so I decided to wait until Sassy woke up. Or I woke her up. I was kind enough to wait, which didn't take long at all.

In five minutes, all four of us were on our paws. Sassy caught more fish and we ate it. Then we were on the move. We walked so we didn't waste any energy. We zigzagged through trees and around rocks. We jumped ditches and dragged out feet on trails. It was exhausting! So much work just to find the Seavers…if ever. At noon we snacked on more fish and drank some more water. Then we traveled on and on. Never-ending journey. By the time it was dark we chose a nice spot under a few trees. My eyes were shut in a flash.

The night seemed so short! As soon as I blinked my eyes open, I wanted to shut them again, but everyone else was up and ready. More fish and more traveling. What will today bring?

After we ate, we continued the long journey. Not much talk went between us, but thoughts were a blur in my head. _Does Jamie miss me? Will I ever see him again? Does Delilah miss them too? Do they miss Delilah? What about Shadow and Sassy?_ My head began to hurt with all of those questions flying about. I shook it to clear away some of the doubts I had. I had to focus in order to get home.

"Hey guys," I said, trying to start a conversation. "How do you catch a squirrel?

No answer

"By climbing up a tree and acting like a nut!" I laughed.

Delilah chuckled, but otherwise, there was no response. I sighed. _Boring!_ Apparently no one felt like talking, because we were silent for a couple of hours until…we reached a cliff. I walked up to it and sniffed cautiously.

"What is it?" Asked Delilah.

"Seems to be some sort of cliff." Shadow replied.

"Well, I don't want to be the one who falls off!" Sassy exclaimed dramatically. She glanced over in my direction.

"Don't look at me. I'm not falling off." I barked. There was a cracking noise. The whole part we were on was splitting. "This was a horrible idea!" We raced off the splitting part, just in time too. As soon as we stepped off, it collapsed and fell down into the trees below. I heaved a sigh of relief. We were safe, but still lost.

"Now what?" I heard the words burst out of my mouth. "That didn't improve our chance of getting home."

"We keep going, isn't it obvious?" Sassy meowed at him.

"Quit bickering, you two." Shadow growled. "Let's go home!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Let's just keep going." Delilah suggested. "It's our only chance, Chance."

"Alright," I muttered. More traveling, more exhaustion, more…of everything.

I slept badly that night. Waking up to the sounds of nature every few minutes. So, I just decided to keep watch. The next morning, we ate, drank, and began trekking onward. On and on and still…on.

Hours later, a little past noon, we ate. We were nowhere near home, and we all knew it. I started to think we were going the wrong way, and maybe I was right. Instinct told me that I was right…we were going the wrong way. _Uh oh…_ I tried to ignore the thought of it. We were going the right way. We are.

By sun down, we weren't near the river, so I hunted with Shadow, leaving Delilah and Sassy to talk.

"See anything, Shadow?" I asked.

"Shh. I see a rabbit. Quiet!" He growled quietly, almost in a whisper.

I only nodded.

Suddenly, Shadow pounced at the rabbit, catching it by surprise. He grabbed it between his claws and killed it. "Go take this to Sassy and Delilah." He ordered. "Come back for two more loads."

"Alright." I replied, obediently. I picked it up and raced back to the others. "Fresh rabbit." He called to them as he arrived. He dropped it at Delilah's paws.

"Thanks!" She said cheerfully.

"No problem."

"Hey, don't I get some?" Sassy piped up, anger in her voice, as usual.

"You're next." I answered, dashing off back towards Shadow. When I reached him, he had another rabbit waiting. I picked it up in my teeth and carried it over to Sassy. "See? I got you something."

"I hoped you would." She responded. She started eating it. Delilah had already eaten one-third of hers.

I raised my eyebrows, and hurried back to Shadow. The old dog stood there by two rabbits. I grabbed one in my jaws, the other in Shadow's. We trotted back to the cat and white dog. We ate, gracefully.

Then as we settled down to sleep, we heard a low, hissing sound. Kind of like a cat, but it was different.

I looked right into the eyes of a no-limbed slithery creature. "What is it?" I asked, not to curious to get close to it. I drew back a few paces. I could never forget about that stupid porcupine.

"I think…it's a snake." Shadow answered, thoughtfully. "It might be poisonous."

"Well, let's get away from it!" The sassy cat retorted.

"Anytime." Delilah yelped.

The four pets backed away, cautiously eyeing the creature advancing towards them. Then, it lunged. It's fangs fit Shadow's shoulder. The older dog let out a pained yelp and staggered away. The pets raced off, Shadow limping. Once they were a good distance away, they stopped running and Shadow collapsed.

"Shadow!" I shouted.

"Oh no." Sassy murmured.

Delilah just gasped.

They raced over to him, full of worry. They reached him. He was still alive, but barely. He looked at them, all of them. He sighed. There was nothing to say, they all knew what was happening. Shadow was dying.

"Don't die, Shadow." I cried.

"I don't have a choice, Chance." His pained whispered words filled the air. His eyes were full of sadness. "Just…get home. Keep…Peter…happy." His last words faded into nothing as the old dog's eyes closed. He was gone. Shadow was dead.

"No…" I croaked. He couldn't be gone. I needed him. Peter needed him. "Shadow, wake up. Wake up! Wake up!" I was practically screaming now. "Don't die, Shadow! I need you!" Tars rolled down my face.

Sassy and Delilah were crying now too.

"Shadow!" My screams continued for a while, until I cried myself to sleep.

Shadow, the great golden retriever, was dead…


	4. Chapter 4: End of Story

Ruined…my life was ruined. We got lost. Shadow was dead.

I opened my eyes the morning after the incident had taken place. I sighed, deeply. I got to my paws, pacing around. After what felt like half an hour, Sassy and Delilah woke up. We buried Shadow's body in a deep hole I dug. We worked together to cover in. I even carved the words **Shadow, a great friend and leader** into the dirt beside the grave. Sassy fished, we ate. Silent the whole time. Before we left, I went over to the grave and gave a silent prayer:

 _Shadow, you were a great friend and leader. I loved you and miss you a heck lot more than you think. May you rest in peace, my favorite old-timer._

"Chance!" Called Sassy.

Heaving another sigh, I walked over to her and Delilah.

"You ready?" The she-cat asked.

"Never." I responded sarcastically. "Let's go."

Delilah looked at him, concern in her eyes.

"If you say so." Sassy said. " You're the alpha."

She was obviously trying to cheer him up. "Let's just go." I growled. "We don't have time to chit-chat if we ever want to get home."

"You're sounding like…like him." There was sadness in her voice.

"Shadow's gone. We got to deal with it." I snapped, blinking back tears. "I'll never be as great as he was. You know that, Sassy."

She just nodded once. Delilah just silently stood there, saying nothing. She sighed.

We began the day's journey through the jungle. Luckily, we didn't see any more snakes. I hunted for lunch. For dinner, we had fish. But, this night, I couldn't sleep. Too much had happened in the last week. Traveling to South America, getting lost, loosing Shadow to a stupid snake. I hoped it was all a dream, a horrible dream. Deep down, I knew it wasn't. This was real.

After a long night, I heard Sassy and Delilah wake up. The sun was bright today, of course. I got up. I hunted for breakfast, taking Delilah with me to teach here. I caught two rabbits and she caught one. Not long after we ate, we heard the familiar sound of a plane. _A rescue plane, perhaps?_

Apparently the pilot saw us because it landed not far away. To our surprise, the Seavers rushed out. They began hugging the three pets. But, Peter noticed it right away. That Shadow wasn't with us. I walked up to him, whimpering. I gave his hand a lick, to cheer him up.

"Shadow?" Peter called. "Shadow!"

"Should we show them?" Sassy asked me. "Where we buried him?"

"Yes." I answered. I barked at the humans, hoping they'd follow me. I turned and began racing off, back towards Shadow's grave. I looked back to see them following. The plane flew above us, staying in sight.

After a few hours of running, we made it…to Shadow's resting place. Peter was devastated. Tears rolled down his face. No one said a word. Not even me. We unburied him.

After arriving back home in America, we reburied Shadow, right in our backyard. Nothing was ever going to be the same again. Ever. Peter and I spent hours together by the grave. Peter crying most of the time. I didn't blame him. Mostly because I felt the same way. Delilah, Sassy and I saw him die. There was nothing we could've done to save the old-timer.

A few days later, we received a box, on the front porch. There were holes in it as if something alive were in there. The label said: **To Peter**

Peter opened it. It was a puppy! A golden retriever, just like Shadow was. It let out a squeaky bark. Peter picked it up. It began licking him, over and over. The boy was smiling, laughing even. I felt a small happiness inside myself as well. "I'll call him Buddy." Peter stated.

"Hello!" Said the Buddy's squeaky voice.

"Hi there." I replied. _I get to teach this pup some stuff!_ "Welcome to our home."


End file.
